


Caretaker

by MintAqua



Category: 19天 - Old先 | 19 Days - Old Xian
Genre: Canon Compliant, Hurt/Comfort, Jealous Zhan, M/M, Pre-Slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-21
Updated: 2018-04-21
Packaged: 2019-04-25 17:24:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,949
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14383446
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MintAqua/pseuds/MintAqua
Summary: They talk about Brother Qiu after school, because of course Zhan Zheng Xi wants to talk about Brother Qiu.[Followup to Chapter 238]





	Caretaker

**Author's Note:**

> Once again felt like this ship deserves some more fic--at least, it DEFINITELY deserves more Jealous!Zhan fic. This one might become a two-parter. Also, I'm not great with titles woops

They talk about Brother Qiu after school, because of _course_ Zhan Zheng Xi wants to talk about Brother Qiu. There wasn’t a single person in class who _didn’t_ ask him about Brother Qiu, except maybe He Tian, who had an oddly pensive look on his face all day that Jian Yi didn’t bother investigating.

“He ate three servings of those noodles,” Jian Yi grumbles. He’s sweaty and tired and just wants to head home and grab a nice cold treat, but they’re stuck with cleaning duty again. What’s worse, they’re doing it indoors, where the heat is trapped inside with them and the air itself feels sticky. He brushes the sweat off his forehead again; he tied his hair back earlier, but it isn’t helping much.

“I think he’s one of those muscleheads who eats enough for two men in one body,” he continues. “Totally unfair. I’m a growing boy. I needed that food more than he did. And in the first place, I was the one who made it.”

Zhan Zheng Xi grunts, though the sound of it is lost amidst the clatter of chairs being placed on top of desks. He’s been doing that with more force than strictly necessary, in Jian Yi’s opinion. Maybe the heat has put him in a bad mood--that or the mock exam. Jian Yi isn’t feeling too great about that, either.

“You’re sure your mom is the one who sent him,” Zhan Zheng Xi says, a half-question.

“Yep. I’m sure.” He knows it for sure because Brother Qiu was the one who brought him back to his mother back when he was kidnapped, but Zhan Zheng Xi still doesn’t know the full story of what happened and Jian Yi still doesn’t feel like telling it to him. He can sense the follow-up question in Zhan Zheng Xi’s stare, so he quickly adds, “Seriously, I’m sure. She introduced him to me before.” It’s not technically a lie.

Zhan Zheng Xi narrows his eyes, like he can see right through him. Jian Yi busies himself with some more chairs. “He was one of the guys who tried to kidnap you,” he points out.

“If he still wanted to kidnap me, he would’ve done it by now! I’ve given him plenty of opportunities.” Wait.

“Don’t make me come over there and smack you, dumbass…” Jian Yi is pretty sure Zhan Zheng Xi wouldn’t, simply because it’s too hot for the effort, but then Xixi hauls the next chair onto the desk with so much force that it almost sounds like he’s breaking the desk in half. Jian Yi gulps, fearing for his safety--well, mostly just the back of his head--but Zhan Zheng Xi eventually relents: “Though...you’re not wrong. If he wanted to kidnap you again, he could’ve just driven off with you this morning...”

“Right?” Jian Yi finishes up his side of the room and gets started on cleaning the board. The lukewarm soap water is only a brief relief; he can already feel his hands getting all dry and chalky. “Still, he’s pretty annoying though… Every time I talk to him, all he says is ‘No’ or ‘That’s not my job.' Or ‘I’m going to eat your food.’”

Zhan Zheng Xi doesn’t respond. He just finishes up his side of the room and joins Jian Yi at the board. They wipe it down in one-sided silence; Jian Yi gets the feeling that Zhan Zheng Xi has something on his mind, his face clouded up with all sorts of serious thoughts. His dour look doesn’t brighten even when they stick their heads out the windows to clap the erasers and enjoy the slight afternoon breeze. After they poke back in and shut the windows, Jian Yi reclines against the wall and tugs on Zhan Zheng Xi’s ear.

“Heeey. What’s on your mind?” he says.

Zhan Zheng Xi bats his hand away, so at least he isn’t completely spacing out. “He sounds like a bodyguard,” he says eventually. It takes Jian Yi a moment to remember they’re still talking about Brother Qiu.

“Oh! You think?” Jian Yi hums. “Yeah, I guess I can see it. So my mom has bodyguards…” He runs a hand through his hair and accidentally gets his hair tie tangled in his fingers. His hair feels greasy. “I’m glad. That means she has people looking after her.” At Zhan Zheng Xi’s odd look, he grins sheepishly. “I was a little worried that she might be lonely.”

As he says it, he’s aware of how it sounds. Maybe he’s projecting, he thinks. Zhan Zheng Xi takes up so much space in his life--enough that, when they’re together, he doesn’t feel an ounce of loneliness. But he isn’t stupid. He sees other people with their families, Xixi with his sister and parents, and he’s constantly aware that there are gaps in his life that can’t be filled up by just one person alone. It’s that awareness that makes his apartment feel that much emptier when his mom is away, that makes him feel like something is missing even when he’s surrounded by classmates and acquaintances at school. He’s always wondered if his mother felt the same, but when he thinks about her surrounded by people who want to protect her, it makes him feel a little better, knowing that she’s okay.

A sweaty palm on the back of his neck brings him back to reality. It has all the warmth of Zhan Zheng Xi’s energy, or what little of it he has at the end of a long day of exams and running around cleaning the inside of a humid old classroom.

 _I’m here_ , Zhan Zheng Xi is saying, and Jian Yi ducks his head and smiles.

 

Zhan Zheng Xi still looks deep in thought when they leave school about an hour later, although his head picks up a little when Jian Yi mentions stopping to get ice cream on the way home. Jian Yi gets them their usual and shoos away some kids sitting on the nearby bench, but the ice cream doesn’t make a dent in Xixi’s thoughtful frown.

“Your face looks really scary today, Xixi,” Jian Yi observes. He pokes Zhan Zheng Xi’s cheek. “It might get stuck like that.”

“Jian Yi,” Zhan Zheng Xi says irritably, and for a split second Jian Yi thinks his ‘annoy Xixi until he cheers up’ tactic actually worked--in record time, too--but this isn’t Zhan Zheng Xi’s casually annoyed tone. It’s his ‘we need to talk’ tone, complete with a hard look that startles Jian Yi sober.

“Jian Yi,” Xixi repeats, more gently this time. “When you’re with...that guy….do you feel safe?”

Jian Yi blinks. “Huh? You mean Brother Qiu?” They’re _still_ talking about that guy? Zhan Zheng Xi nods uncomfortably. “Is that what you’re worried about?” Jian Yi scoffs. “Don’t worry! I feel completely safe with him. He’s definitely tough enough to be a bodyguard. Like a superhero,” he adds, remembering the way Brother Qiu tossed him over his shoulder like he weighed nothing. “Or maybe more like an action star.”

Zhan Zheng Xi frowns down at his ice cream cone like it personally offended him. “Is that so.”

“Um...yeah.” For a few seconds, Jian Yi is completely mystified. What kind of answer does Zhan Zheng Xi _want_ , here? Then it dawns on him. A smirk creeps onto his face. He snickers. “Hehe, I see, I see….”

“What? What are you--HEY!” Zhan Zheng Xi struggles not to drop his ice cream as Jian Yi throws his arm over his shoulders. “Get off! You stink!”

“Don’t be jealous, Xixi~ You’ll always be my hero~” Jian Yi coos. The blush he gets out of it is positively delicious.

“F-fuck off!” Eventually, Zhan Zheng Xi manages to extract himself out from under Jian Yi’s sweaty armpit. At the same time, something falls over. The two of them look down to see two scoops of ice cream melting into the pavement.

Jian Yi blinks. “Ah.”

One punch in the arm and an apology ice cream later, Zhan Zheng Xi’s mood has at least lifted enough for him to be grumpy with Jian Yi instead of sulking with his own thoughts. Jian Yi doesn’t bring it up again, lest he genuinely piss Zhan Zheng Xi off, but part of him wonders about it as they walk the rest of the way home. Is Zhan Zheng Xi really jealous of that guy? He tries to imagine Zhan Zheng Xi in Brother Qiu’s shoes--not just the motorcycle and rippling muscles, but the cool, calm exterior in the face of terror, the way he looked so indestructible as he carried Jian Yi out of there. Indestructible and mature, like he could handle anything.The thought of it makes his heart flutter. That type of Xixi would be flat-out dangerous.

When they arrive at Jian Yi’s--he lives farther away, but Zhan Zheng Xi insists on walking him there and Jian Yi isn’t inclined to argue against spending more time together--there’s a familiar-looking motorcycle sitting out by the curb. Just like that, Zhan Zheng Xi’s foul mood returns. This time, Jian Yi is right there with him.

“Geez, this guy again,” he groans. “I don’t have any more food! Eat somewhere else!”

“It’s better that he’s here,” Zhan Zheng Xi says unexpectedly. Jian Yi raises his eyebrows, but Zhan Zheng Xi won’t meet his eyes. “He’s your bodyguard. He’ll keep you safe.”

The short, clipped way he says it makes Jian Yi think there’s more to what he’s saying, but he doesn’t really get it. “Hey… Xixi…” He reaches for him, but Zhan Zheng Xi turns away.

“I need to get home. Goodnight,” he says briskly.

“Zhan Zheng Xi!” Jian Yi catches his wrist. Zhan Zheng Xi freezes. He still doesn’t meet his eyes.

Belatedly, it occurs to him that they’re standing right where they did that night, when those men came into Jian Yi’s home and tried to hurt Zhan Zheng Xi. He remembers Zhan Zheng Xi’s stubborn and miserable look after he hurt his foot on the curb, the way his voice wavered when he talked about becoming a grown-up faster, sooner. Becoming stronger. He wonders if Zhan Zheng Xi has been daydreaming about the same thing he did, a version of him that is stronger and more mature--someone who can whisk Jian Yi away from danger. Someone who can protect him and take care of him on his own, without the assistance of strangers on bikes or “big brothers” hired by Jian Yi’s mother.

Jian Yi’s grip on Zhan Zheng Xi tightens. He doesn’t know what to say to make him feel better, but he doesn't want Zhan Zheng Xi to leave feeling like he did that night.

“Thank you....for taking care of me,” Jian Yi says slowly, his cheeks pinkening. He feels weirdly exposed, like too much has been acknowledged all at once. Like he's laying out his feelings in front of him all over again. Zhan Zheng Xi is turned away from him, but Jian Yi is pretty sure he’s blushing, too.

“Yeah,” Xixi says, after a long moment. “Sure.”

After a full ten seconds too long, the embarrassment gets to be too much. Jian Yi lets him go and watches him run away.

As expected, when Jian Yi gets upstairs, Brother Qiu is waiting for him, arms crossed. There is an awkward moment of silence between them.

“What?”

“So that guy with the eyebrows was Zhan Zheng Xi.”

“Uhm...yeah…”

“I see.”

A moment. “W...what did my mom tell you about him...?”

A shrug. “What’s for dinner tonight?”

“Piss off.”


End file.
